Vehicle models typically change in design from year to year. Each time a design is changed, it might be necessary to modify the electrical system of the vehicle. Whenever the electrical system requires modification, the electrical system schematic diagrams, colloquially referred to as the "schematics", as well as accompanying and explanatory text, colloquially referred to as "device transmittals" must also be changed. It is only with reference to the schematics that the vehicle electrical system can be understood and implemented in production.
It happens that in modern vehicle design, a team of engineers is ordinarily responsible for designing the electrical system of a particular vehicle model. Traditionally, in designing vehicles, including the electrical systems of vehicles, the design documents such as electrical schematics and accompanying databases are manually generated. With the advent of computer aided design, however, computers are used for much of the design process to generate the appropriate electrical schematics and accompanying databases. Nevertheless, some design is still undertaken using manually generated documents.
In any case, while computer aided design is a boon to design engineers, coordinating the design efforts can be complicated. It is important that changes made to a design by various members of the engineering team be properly managed, so that the efforts of the team can be coordinated. For example, when a master schematic is electronically stored, care must be taken that modifications to the master schematic be managed to avoid the generation of conflicting modifications to the master by different engineers. Otherwise, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to know what the most current approved design is. The management problem is further complicated under circumstances wherein a vehicle's electrical schematics are to be derived from a set of preexisting schematics, e.g., for an older, existing model, using a combination of manual techniques and computer aided design.
The present invention recognizes the above problems. In recognition of the above problems, the present invention further recognizes a need to provide a vehicle schematic management system that addresses the above-noted problems. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for managing the design of a vehicle's electrical system. A further object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle schematic diagram management system for design systems that use a combination of manual design techniques and computer-aided design techniques. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle schematic diagram management system that is easy to use and cost-effective.